Military Affairs , In a dramatic illustration of just how much security relationships had changed in Europe over a decade, NATO in July 1997 invited three of its former Warsaw Pact adversaries in Eastern Europe to join the alliance. The NATO-led coalition force in Bosnia and Herzegovina--which included contingents from 20 non-NATO nations--was successful in maintaining a troubled peace in that war-weary country. Peace, however, was hardly a universal condition in 1997. As the year ended, there were some 30 conflicts of varying size and intensity ongoing throughout the world. In the Middle East, Iraq’s Pres. Saddam Hussein once again balked at cooperating with UN weapons inspectors and seemed determined to provoke a military confrontation with the United States. Central Africa was a particularly volatile region, with national borders of little use in containing the violence. Civil war continued to ravage Afghanistan and Sri Lanka. The armed forces of Albania and Zaire disintegrated when put to the test, and the death of a princess and the awarding of a prestigious international prize added momentum to a unique international movement to ban antipersonnel land mines. (For approximate strengths of selected regular armed forces of the world, see below.)

Arms Control and Disarmament

U.S. and Russian nuclear disarmament was restrained by the continued reluctance of the Russian State Duma (the legislature’s lower house) to ratify the 1993 Strategic Arms Reduction Talks II (START-II) treaty. At their March summit meeting in Helsinki, Fin., U.S. Pres. Bill Clinton and Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin agreed on a framework for the follow-up START-III treaty, which would cut each country’s strategic nuclear arsenal to no more than 2,500 warheads. In an effort to make the START-II treaty more palatable to the State Duma, they also agreed to extend the treaty’s reduction period by five years. A protocol incorporating this provision was signed by the two countries in September, along with several documents relating to the 1972 antiballistic missile (ABM) treaty. These named Belarus, Russia, Kazakstan, and Ukraine as successors to the Soviet Union for the purposes of the treaty and defined the parameters of the shorter-range missile defense systems that would not be subject to the treaty.

With the UN Conference on Disarmament (CD) dragging its heels on negotiating a ban on antipersonnel land mines, the impetus in this field shifted to the "Ottawa Process"--named after the site of an October 1996 conference sponsored by Canada with the express aim of achieving a global ban at the earliest possible date. In addition to nations, the process included a number of nongovernmental organizations. The most notable of these was the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), a coalition of more than 1,000 organizations in over 60 countries. A treaty text was adopted at a follow-up conference in Oslo in September. Diana, princess of Wales--who had been the world’s most visible advocate of a land mine ban and was to have addressed the Oslo conference--was killed in an automobile accident on August 31. (SeeOBITUARIES.) The U.S. had preferred the CD as the forum for regulating land mines and rather reluctantly joined the Oslo conference. American efforts to amend the draft treaty to allow several exceptions--such as the continued use of antipersonnel mines in Korea--failed, and President Clinton announced that the U.S. would not sign the treaty. He did, however, launch an initiative to raise $1 billion each year for mine-clearing operations with the goal of eradicating by 2010 all land mines threatening civilian populations. A number of countries with large stockpiles of land mines--such as Russia and China--did not attend the Oslo meeting. When the ICBL and its American coordinator, Jody Williams, were jointly awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize in October, President Yeltsin announced that Russia would support the treaty. (SeeNOBEL PRIZES.) It was opened for signature in Ottawa on December 3 and within a few days was signed by the representatives of 123 countries. Despite Yeltsin’s earlier statements, Russia did not immediately sign. Other significant absentees included China and the United States.

The Chemical Weapons Convention entered into force in April, and José Mauricio Bustani of Brazil was elected the first director-general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the treaty’s implementing body. The U.S. ratified the convention in April, and Russia followed suit in November. India, China, and South Korea were among the signatories that for the first time acknowledged having chemical-weapons programs.

United States

Once again, Congress appropriated more money for defense than the Clinton administration had requested, passing a $247.7 billion Department of Defense budget for fiscal 1998. President Clinton exercised restraint in using his new line item veto authority, trimming just 13 projects worth $144 million from the bill. These included the money to operate the SR-71 "Blackbird" spy planes--a program that Congress had kept alive since the air force had tried in 1989 to retire the supersonic reconnaissance aircraft. Clinton signed the authorization bill despite reservations about provisions that dealt with the closing of several air force maintenance depots.

In May the Pentagon completed its Quadrennial Defense Review, which concluded that the U.S. must retain the ability to win two regional wars at the same time. The report recommended a modest reduction in total military personnel strength while maintaining 100,000 troops in both Europe and Asia and called for another round of military base closings. In November Secretary of Defense William Cohen announced a Defense Reform Initiative, which aimed to streamline the organization and operation of his department and thereby generate savings to help fund the development and procurement of a new generation of information-based weapons systems. Highlights of the plan included the reduction over 18 months of one-third of the personnel in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the creation of a Threat Reduction & Treaty Compliance Agency by consolidation of the On-Site-Inspection Agency, the Defense Special Weapons Agency, and the Defense Technology Security Administration.

The U.S.’s armed forces suffered more from troubles of their own making during the year than from any foreign foe. Celebrations of the air force’s 50th anniversary were clouded by the unprecedented early retirement of the service’s chief of staff and several high-visibility cases of alleged sexual misconduct. Gen. Ronald Fogleman resigned in protest over plans to discipline the general in charge of an air force facility in Saudi Arabia struck by a terrorist bomb in June 1996. An earlier air force investigation had cleared the officer of any responsibility for the incident. The air force’s first female B-52 pilot, charged with adultery and fraternization, accepted a general discharge rather than face a court-martial, and an air force general who was the leading candidate to replace Gen. John Shalikashvili as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff took his name out of contention after allegations that he had had an adulterous affair more than a decade earlier were made. As a result, Gen. Henry Shelton in October became the third successive army incumbent in the nation’s top military post, which had traditionally been rotated among the three services.

The sergeant major of the army--the service’s top enlisted man--was first suspended from his duties and then replaced to face a court-martial after he was charged with sexual harassment. In a report released in September, a senior army review panel concluded that sexual harassment and discrimination existed throughout the service. A Defense Department panel in December recommended reducing the integration of men and women in the armed services.

The high operational requirements resulting from the U.S’s many overseas commitments took a toll on pilot retention, especially those flying high-performance fighter aircraft. More than 700 experienced pilots left the air force during the year. The Pentagon in July suspended indefinitely military participation in the antidrug patrols along the border with Mexico after a marine shot and killed an 18-year-old Texan. A spate of military aircraft accidents in September prompted the secretary of defense to order all the services to implement a 24-hour "safety stand-down." During the year the air force rolled out its first F-22 "Raptor" air superiority fighter, and the B-2 stealth bomber was declared to be ready for operational use.

NATO

Despite strong Russian objections, leaders of the 16 NATO countries in July offered membership to the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland. The accession process was expected to take two years. The heads of state also signed a Founding Act that regulated NATO’s special relationship with Russia and a Charter with a similar purpose with Ukraine. To strengthen its links with other nonmembers, NATO bolstered its Partnership for Peace program and established the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. The 36,000-strong NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina maintained a fragile peace between the three ethnic communities, but it became clear that a sizable NATO presence would be required in that country after the SFOR’s mandate ended in mid-1998. In December NATO foreign ministers tasked their military authorities to provide early in 1998 options for a follow-on force.

Russian participation in the SFOR remained an example of the close cooperation that could be achieved at the working level. The Russian-NATO Joint Permanent Council established by the Founding Act held several meetings, at both the ministerial and ambassadorial levels. In October Russia appointed a military representative to NATO headquarters in Brussels.

The alliance continued to refine the plans to modernize its command structure. France decided to postpone its return to NATO’s integrated military structure after the U.S. refused to give up command of the alliance’s Southern Command, but the French indicated they would not block the military reorganization. In March U.S. Army Gen. Wesley Clark was named to replace Gen. George Joulwan as the supreme Allied commander, Europe.

The misdeeds of some NATO soldiers during the 1993 UN intervention in Somalia continued to have repercussions. In Canada a royal commission found that Canadian officers in Somalia and Ottawa had covered up the torture and murder of civilians by Canadian paratroops. Two Italian generals resigned after a newsmagazine alleged that Italian troops had abused and killed unarmed Somalis. The Italian government pledged to conduct a full inquiry.

United Kingdom

In March a contract was signed for the production of three new "Astute"-class nuclear-powered attack submarines, which were scheduled to enter service early in the next century. In May George Robertson was named secretary of state for defense in the new Labour Party government. Despite its strong antinuclear tradition, the Labour Party at its annual conference voted to retain Britain’s nuclear deterrent. In October the government confirmed that it would buy seven more American Trident D5 missiles, to be delivered in 1998. They were to be fitted with British-made nuclear warheads. This would increase the British inventory of these submarine-launched ballistic missiles to 58.

France

Alain Richard was named defense minister in the Socialist Party Cabinet that took power in June. The new government announced that it would pare down its troop levels in Africa and would no longer intervene in the domestic affairs of its former colonies there. (See Spotlight: France’s New African Policy.) It also modified a controversial plan of the previous government to call up young people for five days to assess their suitability for the military and to lecture them on patriotism as France made the transition to an all-volunteer force over the next few years. Instead, they would be called up for a single day before their 18th birthday to learn about defense issues. The government also pledged more than F 80 billion for military procurement in 1998, down from the F 90 billion in the previous government’s plans.

Germany

German troops involved in an operation in March to rescue foreigners from the anarchy in Albania opened fire on Albanian gunmen in what was described as the first foreign combat by the German military since the end of World War II. The public and government proudly marked the event as another step in overcoming the taboos that had grown from the reactions to Germany’s militaristic past. Germans were less pleased with the behaviour of some of their troops at home. Bullying within the ranks was on the increase, and several times during the year soldiers were involved in vicious attacks on foreign workers.

Turkey

The Turkish military, which regarded itself as the defender of Turkey’s secular tradition, made no secret of its displeasure with the Islamist government of Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan and was credited with a major role in his overthrow in June. In little more than a year, the armed forces expelled more than 200 officers charged with having extreme Islamist tendencies. Ismet Sezgin was named defense minister in the new government. He endorsed the previous government’s $31 billion 10-year weapons-acquisition program. In midyear and again in September, Turkish troops conducted major incursions into northern Iraq to attack bases of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Some 8,000 remained in Iraq to police a security buffer zone. The controversial Russian sale of its sophisticated S-300 air defense missile system to the Republic of Cyprus raised tensions between Turkey, Greece, and Russia. Turkey warned that it would not tolerate the missiles’ deployment and searched several third-country ships it suspected of carrying the weapons as they passed through the Turkish Straits. Greece, Russia, and the Greek Cypriot government suggested that the missiles would not be deployed if Turkey agreed to the demilitarization of Cyprus.

Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS)

In a February decree Russian Pres. Boris Yeltsin ordered a 200,000-man cut in the armed forces, reducing them to an authorized strength of 1.2 million by the end of the year. Dissatisfied with the slow pace of military reform, Yeltsin in May fired both the defense minister and the chief of the general staff. They were replaced by Gen. Igor Sergeyev, the chief of the strategic rocket forces, and Gen. Anatoly Kvashnin. This new team supported Yeltsin’s major reform proposals made public in July. The downsizing of the armed forces would continue, reaching a low of 1.2 million authorized military personnel by the end of 1998. Reorganization of Russia’s five major services began by combining the strategic rocket forces, the military space troops, and the strategic defense assets of the air defense troops. The air force and the rest of the air defense troops were scheduled to be merged by the end of 1998.

As Russia’s conventional military strength deteriorated, increased emphasis was placed on nuclear deterrence, including the possibility of using nuclear weapons to counter a conventional attack. Production of a new intercontinental ballistic missile began, and work started on the first of a new class of strategic missile-carrying submarines. Fulfilling a pledge President Yeltsin had made in May, Russia no longer aimed its nuclear missiles at targets in NATO countries. The bloated defense industry inherited from the Soviet Union remained in trouble, with frequent strikes. The Defense Ministry lacked the money to pay the enterprises so that they in turn could pay their workers and suppliers. In military procurement the government could afford only to fund prototypes of new conventional weapons in an effort to stay abreast of the latest military technology and to seek foreign sales to sustain the most important enterprises. Such new weapons included the S-37 experimental jet fighter developed by Sukhoi. With wings that were swept forward, the plane was touted as an equal to the American F-22. A new "Black Eagle" main battle tank was also displayed for the first time.

Russia and Ukraine finally settled their long dispute over the division of the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine agreed to lease base facilities in Sevastopol and several other locations on the Crimean Peninsula to Russia for 20 years. The two sides could not agree, however, on the terms for Russia to buy back some 40 strategic bombers inherited by Ukraine when the Soviet Union dissolved. These included the bulk of the supersonic Tu-160 "Blackjacks" that had been in the Soviet inventory.

Despite the presence of a large CIS peacekeeping force in Tajikistan, fighting went on there throughout most of the year between troops loyal to the government and those that had turned against it. In August the government declared victory over the mutineers. Members of illegal armed groups were given until November 17 to turn in their weapons. Uzbekistan, fearing that the conflicts in Tajikistan and Afghanistan might spill over onto its territory, continued to build up its armed forces.

Georgia’s Pres. Eduard Shevardnadze again threatened to end the mandate of the Russian peacekeeping force in the Georgian breakaway province of Abkhazia unless the Russians protected returning ethnic Georgians, who had been expelled from the region. At a CIS summit meeting in October, the mandate was extended only until the end of the year. The U.S. bought 21 MiG-29 jet fighters from Moldova after there were reports that Iran was interested in them. Some of the planes were capable of delivering nuclear weapons.

The Rest of Europe

In the civil unrest that broke out in Albania in March, the armed forces proved unwilling or unable to stand up to the rebel groups. Troops deserted; most of the country’s arsenals were looted of their weapons; and the defense minister fled the country. A 6,000-strong international force led by Italy moved into the country to distribute food and medicine and to help restore order. The new government fired most of the generals in the army, and several NATO countries offered to help rebuild the Albanian military as a smaller security force. Only 45,000 weapons were turned in during an amnesty period ended on September 30, and government officials estimated that some 600,000 military weapons remained in the hands of the population.

The Muslim and Croat military forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina continued to receive shipments of military equipment--including tanks, heavy artillery, and helicopters--in a controversial program sponsored by the U.S., Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia and designed to give those forces parity with the Bosnian Serbs. In the 18 months that the June 1996 Agreement on Sub-Regional Arms Control had been in effect, the four Balkan parties--Croatia, Yugoslavia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Bosnian Serbs--had destroyed almost 6,600 pieces of heavy military equipment.

Middle East

The UN Security Council refused to lift the economic sanctions it had imposed on Iraq in 1990 because of its concerns that it had not received a full accounting of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction but postponed a decision on an Anglo-American proposal to impose additional sanctions. President Hussein retaliated by briefly expelling the Americans from the UN weapons inspection teams in Iraq and threatening to shoot down American U-2 reconnaissance planes, whereupon the Security Council passed the added sanctions. In October Iranian and Iraqi warplanes violated the no-fly zone established in southern Iraq, which prompted the U.S. to speed up the deployment of an aircraft carrier battle group to the Persian Gulf. The Iranian planes had bombed anti-Iranian rebels located in Iraq. Iran’s military strength and its self-sufficiency in arms production continued to grow, as the U.S. had mixed results in its efforts to prevent other countries from providing Iran with advanced weapons technology. China agreed to stop selling Iran cruise missiles, but the Russian government denied that it was supplying Iran with ballistic missile technology despite American and Israeli intelligence reports that individual Russian scientists and enterprises were involved in this activity.

Israel and Turkey continued to cooperate in defense matters. The two countries agreed to produce jointly a long-range air-to-surface missile, a development Egypt warned could trigger a regional arms race. In Lebanon Islamic guerrillas ambushed and killed an elite Israeli naval commando team as it attempted a raid on a guerrilla headquarters near Sidon; this revived the debate within Israel on the value of military operations inside Lebanon.

South and Central Asia

In Afghanistan the Taliban Islamic militia saw its fortunes ebb and flow after its forces pushed northward from the capital, Kabul, in January. In February Taliban fighters seized the strategic Shibar Pass and broke into northern Afghanistan for the first time. For a brief time they held the important city of Mazar-e Sharif after one of the allies in Gen. ˋAbd ar-Rashid Dostam’s northern coalition joined forces with the Taliban. Four days later Gen. Abdul Malik changed sides again, and the Taliban were driven from the city. An offensive by another opposition leader, Ahmad Shah Masoud, drove the Taliban back to within 15 km (9.5 mi) of Kabul, and the capital was repeatedly bombed. By early September the Taliban forces were once more at the gates of Mazar-e Sharif, and by the end of the month they had cut the opposition’s supply route by capturing the town of Hairatam, on the border with Uzbekistan. In mid-October, however, the opposition again pushed the Taliban back from Mazar-e Sharif.

In Sri Lanka the government seemed no closer to crushing the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by military means than it had been in the previous 14 years of this bitter conflict. In two major offensives government troops were unable to gain control of the strategic highway leading to the LTTE’s stronghold in the north of the island. In August a top Sri Lankan air force officer, Vice-Marshal Elmo Perera, was fired for allegedly having participated in a scheme to buy several armed Mi-24 attack helicopters from Ukraine and then turn them over to the LTTE.

Indian Defense Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav said in July that India was prepared to resume development of the Agni long-range ballistic missile. Work on this nuclear-capable weapon had been suspended in 1994. Both India and Pakistan continued to upgrade their armed forces. India took delivery of a number of Russian-built Su-30 fighters, and Pakistan received the first of 320 Tu-80 main battle tanks it had ordered from Ukraine. In early October Indian and Pakistani forces exchanged artillery fire across their disputed border in Kashmir. Stung by U.S. criticism of its human rights record, Indonesia in June canceled a contract for nine American-built F-16 fighters, turning instead to Russia for 12 Su-30 jets.

East and Southeast Asia, Oceania

North Korea, lacking enough food to feed its population, remained a major threat to stability in the region. In April the most senior North Korean official ever to have defected warned that North Korea had plans to use both nuclear and chemical weapons against South Korea and Japan should war break out on the peninsula. Concern about the North’s nuclear capability was fueled by Hans Blix, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, who announced in May that North Korea had hidden an unknown amount of plutonium from his inspectors.

Efforts to convene four-power peace talks to end the Korean War officially, involving the two Koreas, China, and the U.S., made little progress. Two preparatory meetings broke down after the North Koreans demanded extensive food aid as a precondition for the talks and insisted that American military withdrawal from South Korea be on the agenda. Additional talks were held in December. In July North and South Korean troops exchanged heavy gunfire across the demilitarized zone. In its annual White Paper, the Japanese Defense Ministry listed North Korea as "a serious source of instability in the region." During the year the U.S. and Japan reviewed and updated the 1978 guidelines that had regulated their bilateral defense cooperation, and spelled out the sort of noncombat support Japan would provide should the U.S. have to become militarily involved in the region.

Soldiers of the British army’s Black Watch regiment mounted a last ceremonial guard in Hong Kong before some 4,000 soldiers of the Chinese Peoples’ Liberation Army moved into the former British colony when it was returned to Chinese rule on July 1. Turning its attention to Taiwan, China later the same month exercised its East Sea Fleet in what were described as the largest Chinese naval maneuvers in 30 years. The Chinese continued to upgrade the quality of their weaponry. Arms imports from Russia included Su-27 jet fighters, advanced artillery systems, and a diesel-powered submarine. In September Pres. Jiang Zemin announced that China’s armed forces--the largest in the world--would be reduced by 500,000 over the next three years.

Civil war flared again in Cambodia after Second Prime Minister Hun Sen (seeBIOGRAPHIES) ousted his co-premier, Prime Minister Prince Norodom Ranariddh, in a coup. By October royalist troops held only a few pockets along the border with Thailand.

Caribbean and Latin America

Ending its virtual ban on the sale of high-technology weapons to Latin-American countries, the Clinton administration announced in August that requests for such weapons in the future would be considered on a case-by-case basis. Earlier in the year Lockheed Martin had been allowed to offer its F-16 jet fighters to Chile. Many feared that this new policy would trigger an arms race in the region.

Although the military remained the final arbiter of power in Ecuador, it played a restrained role in the political crisis that followed the ouster of Pres. Abdalá Bucaram Ortíz in February. In Colombia the armed forces continued their sometimes uneven struggle against the two left-wing insurgent groups--the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army--which were often allied with drug traffickers. The wealth derived from the drug business gave the groups access to advanced technology that matched or surpassed that used by the military. In a peace overture the FARC in June released 70 servicemen it had held for nearly a year. In August the government offered to withdraw its troops from some parts of the country in order to prepare for peace talks.

Widespread complaints of physical and mental abuse to conscripts in the Chilean military led to calls by legislators and human rights groups to end compulsory military service. During a visit to Argentina in October, President Clinton announced that he would ask Congress to approve Argentina as a non-NATO strategic security partner of the U.S.--the first country in the hemisphere to be so designated.

Africa South of the Sahara

An arc of violence stretched from the Red Sea to the South Atlantic Ocean in 1997. Ill-equipped and seldom paid, the demoralized army of Zaire’s Pres. Mobutu Sese Seko (see OBITUARIES) was powerless to stop the advances of the rebel Alliance of Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Congo-Zaire (ADFL) led by Laurent Kabila. (See BIOGRAPHIES.) Aided by troops from Rwanda and Uganda, the ADFL broke out of its eastern stronghold in February. Foreign mercenaries hired by Mobutu--many of them from former Yugoslavia--did little to slow the offensive. As the ADFL approached the capital, the Zairean armed forces melted away. On May 17 the ADFL captured Kinshasa; Kabila named himself president of the country, renaming it the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Unfortunately, the ouster of Mobutu did not bring peace to Central Africa. Tutsi-Hutu animosities, especially in the eastern Congo (Kinshasa), generated renewed attacks by various rebel groups into neighbouring Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi. Within Congo itself, anti-Tutsi feelings prompted several groups that had once supported Kabila to turn against his army, portraying it as a foreign invader.

Even more serious fighting rocked the neighbouring Republic of the Congo, where more than 4,000 American, British, Belgian, French, and Portuguese troops had been deployed in case they were needed to evacuate their citizens from Kinshasa. In early June fighting between government forces and the militia loyal to former Congolese ruler Gen. Denis Sassou-Nguesso broke out in the capital, Brazzaville. In August it spread to the interior of the country. Fierce fighting in the capital continued through September and October, with the airport changing hands several times and artillery fire often falling on neighbouring Kinshasa. In October some 1,000 Angolan troops from the enclave of Cabinda entered the conflict, fighting alongside Sassou-Nguesso’s Cobra militia in southern Congo. Warning that the expanding conflict was a serious threat to peace in west-central Africa, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (see BIOGRAPHIES) asked the Security Council to approve a peacekeeping force for the Congo (Brazzaville), but Nguesso claimed victory before the UN could act.

Fighting continued throughout most of the year in southern Sudan as the government’s war with the rebel Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) entered its 14th year. Both sides claimed significant gains, but the government had some success in attracting rebel faction leaders to its side. Meanwhile, officials in Kampala charged that Sudanese government troops and planes had crossed into northern Uganda to support Ugandan rebels. In September SPLA leader John Garang agreed to resume peace talks, and they convened in Nairobi, Kenya, the following month. The talks quickly broke down, however, and were recessed until April 1998.

Elsewhere in Africa an army coup in May overthrew the government of Sierra Leone. Some 200 U.S. troops were deployed to Freetown to evacuate American and third-country personnel to a U.S. amphibious assault ship offshore. The Nigerian-led West African peacekeeping force (ECOMOG) in Sierra Leone was humiliated by the new government, which claimed to have captured more than 400 Nigerian troops in heavy fighting in October. The Nigerians bombed and shelled the capital and its harbour in an effort to enforce an economic blockade of the junta. ECOMOG was more successful in neighbouring Liberia, where it presided over the disarming of the various militias prior to the June elections that brought former warlord Charles Taylor (see BIOGRAPHIES) to power. In October Taylor announced plans to form a new national army.

New Technology

Australian scientists developed a handheld land mine detector; it combined a ground-probing radar and a conventional metal detector that could detect both metal and plastic mines.

Approximate Strengths of Selected Regular Armed Forces of the World

A list of approximate strengths of selected regular armed forces of the world is provided in the table.

Combat aircraft1

Warships

Bombers

Defense

Aircraft

and

Recon-

expenditure

Military personnel in 000s

Submarines

Carriers/

Destroyers/

fighter-

nais-

as % of

Country

Total

Army

Navy

Air Force2

Nuclear

Diesel

Cruisers

Frigates

ground attack

Fighters

sance

Tanks3

1996 GDP

I. NATO

Belgium

44.54

28.5

2.7

12.0

--

--

--

3

132

--

--

326

1.6

Canada

61.64

21.9

9.4

14.6

--

3

--

20

122

--

18

114

1.5

Denmark

32.9

19.0

6.0

7.9

--

5

--

3

64

--

--

353

1.7

France

380.84

219.9

63.35

83.4

10

4

3

39

372

121

71

768

3.1

Germany

347.14

239.9

27.8

76.9

--

16

--

15

296

177

53

3,248

1.7

Greece

162.3

116.0

19.5

26.8

--

8

--

15

209

110

29

1,735

4.8

Italy

325.14

188.3

44.0

63.6

--

8

2

30

235

24

45

1,325

2.2

Netherlands, The

57.24

27.0

13.8

12.0

--

4

--

16

171

--

15

600

2.1

Norway

33.64

15.8

9.0

7.9

--

12

--

4

58

15

6

170

2.4

Portugal

59.34

32.1

14.8

7.7

--

3

--

10

91

--

5

186

2.8

Spain

197.5

128.5

39.05

30.0

--

8

1

17

47

149

21

776

1.5

Turkey

639.0

525.0

51.05

53.0

--

15

--

21

259

165

39

4,205

3.9

United Kingdom

213.8

112.2

44.95

56.7

15

--

3

35

316

107

67

541

3.0

United States

1,447.6

495.0

570.45

382.2

93

--

42

101

3,849

332

236

8,239

3.6

II. NON-NATO EUROPE

Albania

unk

unk

2.5

6.0

--

1

--

--

47

51

--

721

6.7

Armenia

60.04

58.6

--

--

--

--

--

--

5

1

--

102

6.2

Austria

45.5

45.5

--

--

--

--

--

--

53

--

--

169

0.9

Azerbaijan

66.7

53.3

2.2

11.2

--

--

--

2

15

19

2

270

5.8

Belarus

81.84

50.5

--

22.0

--

--

--

--

129

89

12

1,778

4.2

Bosnia and Herzegovina

56.0

56.0

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

130

6.3

Bosnian Serbs

30.0

30.0

--

--

--

20

--

--

570

n/a

Bulgaria

101.54

50.4

6.1

19.3

--

2

--

1

112

84

21

1,475

3.3

Croatia

58.0

50.0

3.0

5.0

--

1

--

--

30

--

--

285

6.8

Czech Republic

61.74

27.0

--

17.0

--

--

--

--

57

72

--

952

2.4

Finland

31.0

27.0

2.1

1.9

--

--

--

--

--

98

--

196

2.0

Georgia

33.24

12.6

2.0

3.0

--

--

--

2

7

--

--

79

3.4

Hungary

49.1

31.6

--

17.5

--

--

--

--

--

80

--

797

1.7

Poland

241.7

168.6

17.0

56.1

--

3

--

2

109

231

16

1,729

2.8

Romania

226.94

129.3

17.55

47.6

--

1

--

7

88

203

24

1,255

2.3

Slovakia

41.24

23.8

--

12.0

--

--

--

--

33

76

5

478

2.6

Sweden

53.3

35.1

9.5

8.7

--

10

--

--

162

193

33

539

2.9

Ukraine

387.44

161.5

16.05

124.4

--

3

--

4

450

456

112

4,063

3.0

Yugoslavia

114.2

90.0

7.55

16.7

--

4

--

4

123

80

38

1,270

8.7

III. RUSSIA

Russia

1,240.04

420.0

220.05

400.06

97

32

23

37

1,321

1,490

344

15,780

6.5

IV. MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; LATIN AMERICA

Algeria

124.0

107.0

7.0

10.0

--

2

--

3

55

116

10

890

4.0

Egypt

450.0

320.0

20.0

110.0

--

8

--

9

189

363

20

3,700

4.5

Iran

518.0

450.0

38.05

30.0

--

3

--

4

170

124

14

1,390

5.0

Iraq

387.5

350.0

2.5

35.0

--

--

--

2

136

180

--

2,700

8.3

Israel

175.0

134.0

9.0

32.0

--

3

--

--

426

--

22

4,300

12.1

Jordan

104.0

90.0

0.6

13.4

--

--

--

--

65

32

--

1,141

5.6

Lebanon

55.1

53.3

1.0

0.8

--

--

--

--

--

3

--

315

4.4

Libya

65.0

35.0

8.0

22.0

--

4

--

3

200

209

11

985

5.1

Morocco

196.3

175.0

7.8

13.5

--

--

--

1

70

15

4

524

4.3

Oman

43.54

25.0

4.2

4.1

--

--

--

--

47

--

--

103

15.6

Saudi Arabia

105.5

70.0

13.55

22.0

--

--

--

8

187

139

10

1,055

12.8

Sudan, The

79.7

75.0

1.7

3.0

--

--

--

--

50

6

--

280

4.3

Syria

320.0

215.0

5.0

100.02

--

3

--

4

240

335

14

4,600

4.8

Tunisia

35.0

27.0

4.5

3.5

--

--

--

--

44

--

--

84

2.0

United Arab Emirates

64.5

59.0

1.5

4.0

--

--

--

--

72

28

8

5

5.2

Yemen

66.3

61.0

1.8

3.5

--

--

--

--

29

32

--

1,125

3.7

Angola

110.5

98.0

1.5

11.0

--

--

--

--

14

4

9

300

6.4

Burundi

22.04

18.5

--

--

--

--

--

--

6

--

--

--

4.1

Cameroon

22.14

11.5

1.3

0.3

--

--

--

--

15

--

--

--

2.4

Chad

30.34

25.0

--

0.3

--

--

--

--

4

--

--

60

2.7

Congo, Dem. Rep. of

unk

unk

unk

--

--

--

--

--

unk

unk

unk

60

2.8

Eritrea

46.0

unk

unk

unk

--

--

--

1

6

--

--

unk

7.5

Ethiopia

120.04

100.0

--

unk

--

--

--

--

85

--

0

350

2.0

Kenya

24.2

20.5

1.2

2.5

--

--

--

--

30

--

--

76

2.2

Nigeria

77.0

62.0

5.5

9.5

--

--

--

1

92

--

--

200

3.5

Rwanda

62.04

55.0

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

6.3

South Africa

79.44

54.3

8.0

11.1

--

3

--

--

114

--

8

224

1.8

Tanzania

34.6

30.0

1.0

3.6

--

--

--

--

--

24

--

65

2.5

Uganda

55.0

55.0

--

--

--

--

--

--

1

--

--

80

2.4

Zambia

21.6

20.0

--

1.6

--

--

--

--

49

14

--

30

1.8

Zimbabwe

39.0

35.0

--

4.0

--

--

--

--

29

12

15

32

3.9

Argentina

73.0

41.0

20.05

12.0

--

3

--

13

227

--

5

326

1.5

Bolivia

33.5

25.0

4.55

4.0

--

--

--

--

15

18

--

--

2.1

Brazil

314.7

200.0

64.75

50.0

--

6

1

21

249

16

4

--

2.1

Chile

94.3

51.0

29.85

13.5

--

4

--

8

73

15

16

130

3.5

Colombia

146.3

121.0

18.05

7.3

--

2

--

4

59

--

13

--

2.6

Cuba

53.0

38.0

5.05

10.0

--

2

--

1

10

120

--

1,500

5.4

Dominican Republic

24.5

15.0

4.05

5.5

--

--

--

--

10

--

--

--

1.1

Ecuador

57.1

50.0

4.15

3.0

--

2

--

2

42

14

--

3

3.4

El Salvador

28.4

25.7

1.15

1.6

--

--

--

--

12

--

8

--

1.5

Guatemala

40.7

38.5

1.55

0.7

--

--

--

--

14

--

--

--

1.4

Mexico

175.0

130.0

37.05

8.0

--

--

--

7

101

10

23

--

0.8

Peru

125.0

85.0

25.05

15.0

--

8

2

5

70

23

7

300

1.9

Uruguay

25.6

17.6

5.05

3.0

--

--

--

3

33

--

1

--

2.3

Venezuela

79.04

34.0

15.05

7.0

--

2

--

6

99

--

19

70

1.2

V. SOUTH AND CENTRAL ASIA; EAST ASIA AND OCEANIA

Australia

57.4

25.4

14.3

17.7

--

3

--

10

103

--

23

71

2.2

Bangladesh

121.0

101.0

10.5

9.5

--

--

--

4

49

--

--

140

1.7

Cambodia

140.54

84.0

5.0

1.5

--

--

--

--

2

21

--

100

5.7

China

2,840.0

2,090.0

280.05

470.0

6

55

--

54

816

3,161

298

8,500

5.7

India

1,145.0

980.0

55.05

110.0

--

17

1

24

411

380

54

3,314

2.8

Indonesia

461.04

220.0

43.05

21.0

--

2

--

17

68

12

52

--

2.1

Japan

235.64

147.7

42.5

44.1

--

16

--

58

110

228

140

1,110

1.0

Kazakstan

35.1

20.0

0.1

15.0

--

--

--

--

69

32

12

630

2.6

Korea, North

1,055.0

923.0

47.0

85.0

--

26

--

3

607

--

--

3,000

27.2

Korea, South

672.0

560.0

60.05

52.0

--

6

--

40

303

130

51

2,190

3.3

Laos

29.0

25.0

0.5

3.5

--

--

--

--

30

--

--

30

4.1

Malaysia

111.5

85.0

14.0

12.5

--

--

--

4

54

33

7

--

4.2

Myanmar (Burma)

429.0

400.0

20.05

9.0

--

--

--

--

55

36

--

130

7.6

Nepal

46.0

46.0

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

--

0.9

Pakistan

587.0

520.0

22.05

45.0

--

9

--

11

168

242

26

2,120

5.7

Philippines

110.5

70.0

24.0

16.5

--

--

--

1

12

5

30

--

2.0

Singapore

70.0

55.0

9.0

6.0

--

--

--

--

94

37

8

60

5.5

Sri Lanka

117.0

95.0

12.0

10.0

--

--

--

--

22

--

--

25

6.5

Taiwan

376.0

240.0

68.05

68.0

--

4

--

36

402

--

31

719

4.9

Thailand

266.0

150.0

73.05

43.0

--

--

1

14

161

50

55

277

2.5

Uzbekistan

70.04

45.0

--

4.0

--

--

--

--

49

64

10

370

3.8

Vietnam

492.0

420.0

42.05

30.0

--

--

--

7

71

124

4

1,315

4.0

Note: Data exclude most paramilitary, security, and irregular forces. Naval data exclude vessels of less than 100 tons standard displacement. Figures are for June 1997. Because of substantive changes in national forces and reassessments of evidence, data may not be comparable with previous editions.

1Includes combat aircraft from all services, including naval and air defense. Light strike/counterinsurgency aircraft are included in bomber/fighter-ground attack category. Reconnaissance includes maritime reconnaissance and antisubmarine warfare aircraft.

4Some countries have staffs, centrally controlled units, support services, military police, regular armed forces not responsible to Ministry of Defense, and the like, which means total armed forces are greater than the sum of the three armed forces.